Suspicions
by festival-chan loves books
Summary: Kind of a sequel to my songfic, although not a songfic itself, and can be read without the songfic... If Sasuke came back on his own...  SakuSasu, and a onesided NaruSaku
1. Chapter 1: He's Back!

Okay! So this is if Sasuke came back on his own. Pfft! Like he would! I am all in favor of Naruto dragging him back to the Leaf after helping him kill Itachi, as we all know that's the only way Leaf shinobi can get anything done! You know, team work and team mates are more important than the mission and all. Because Naruto and Sasuke are friends, whether they like it or not.

Done ranting. Please read story now. And also review and tell me how it is.

* * *

He strutted down the streets of Konoha, resplendent in his new, purple-bow-less outfit (that was too... Orochimaru for him. And, of course, he didn't want to be wearing the same outfit as he had under Orochimaru).

He was particularly looking for a kunoichi with pink hair.

And he found her. Although not in the place he'd expected. He found her... at a ramen restaurant. Sitting next to a very familiar yellow-haired dobe. And there was another one. A dark haired boy he'd seen once before. Whose midriff was always showing.

"Hmph," he snorted, under his breath.

The strutting boy made a face of displeasure and disgust, neglecting the fact that girls were gasping and pointing at his low-cut shirt that bared his chest to the world. If he had looked their way, they would have blushed. As it was, he passed right by them, only wondering what the pink haired girl was doing. With the yellow haired boy and the dark haired boy?

As the dark haired boy looked up, for no apparent reason, he saw the strutting boy. The boy knew that he must have recognised him, as this guy didn't seem to be one to forget faces easily, and yet his face registered no shock or awe or... well, any emotion at all except a cold, blank stare. He turned back to his food, and leaned just a little towards the yellow haired boy, and said something.

The yellow-haired boy froze, as if not looking back would make it a lie. Or if what the dark-haired boy had said wasn't true, there would be no harm in it. The pink haired girl froze, too. They stayed just exactly where they were, hands and faces in the same expression that they'd been in, chopsticks held halfway between their mouths and the bowls, and from where he was, he saw the the noodles captured between the sticks were not moving.

He walked up to the counter, and said to the brown-haired girl standing behind it, who was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and remembering, "I'd like some miso ramen, please. And the dobe here will pay for it." He gestured to the blond boy coolly.

Said dobe dropped his ramen. The pink haired girl gasped, and put hers down carefully.

Simultaneously, all three shinobi looked at him. One bright blue pair of eyes, one bright green pair, and finally, a dark, cold pair.

"Hello," he said. "I knew you'd remember me." Sasuke smirked, and turned to his ramen, which had just been placed in front of him, and began to eat.

* * *

I don't know what this is. I think it's kind of a sequel/follow-up to my songfic? Obviously it's not a songfic itself, but it's kinda the same ... I dunno... idea... someone mentioned that they'd like to see a sequel (I'm sorry, I don't remember your name... - -'... oh, it's Kun'aii, right?) 

I promise I will write more, but I don't know if I'll ever finish this one.

I guess I just got tired of pranking Neji for a while. I'm sorry...

I really will finish that one...


	2. Chapter 2: But why is he back?

Next chapter is up! I'm considering putting Gaara in this. Most likely, it will be a SasuSaku with a little bit of Naruto being annoyed in the middle. But I'd really like to put the Kazekage in here. Mostly because he kind of fits with the angst-fest-theme we have going.

Gaara: Why does she want to put me in everything? She doesn't even own Naruto.

* * *

"You!" yelled the blond. 

"Sasuke-kun..." whispered Sakura to herself. "...back?"

"Hey, Naruto. How's it going?" said Sasuke, clearly enjoying himself while acting like he'd never left. "I just had to try this place's ramen... You know, since apparently it's really good and all. So, you know. Oh, and Sakura. Hello."

"Sasuke- You- you-but-" spluttered Naruto. "But- but how? Why?"

"And you. The dark-haired guy over there. I don't know if we were ever properly introduced. I'm Uchiha Sasuke. You've taken my place." He said it coolly. Like it mattered to him. Actually, it almost did.

"You can call me Sai." The person called Sai smiled a very suspicious looking smile. Even to Sasuke, who rarely smiled, and usually sneered, it looked fake.

Naruto was still spouting out bits and pieces of sentences. "You- Orochimaru-"

Sasuke, once again displaying the speed he'd gained and showed off to Naruto, was at Naruto's back with his sword out. He'd moved so fast that Sakura blinked, and for a brief moment looked like she'd thought it was a hallucination. Then she turned around.

"Don't speak that name. I am not affiliated with the Sound anymore. Do you understand me?" asked Sasuke quietly.

Naruto nodded.

"I think that what he wants is to know how you ended up here," ventured Sakura. Sasuke realized those were the first coherent words she'd said to him.

Sasuke remained silent.

"If you do not want to tell, just say so. We won't pressure you." Sai smiled, with an amount of warmth that reminded Sasuke of the Snow Country.

Naruto was silent.

Sasuke released his chokehold, which to anyone but the people standing right next to him would have looked like a one-armed embrace. That is, if he hadn't had his sword at Naruto's neck. And only when he put his sword back did he realize the old man who owned the place had looked quite disturbed, as had the girl who helped him.

Well, of course. Sasuke would have been worried too, if his main source of income had its life threatened right in front of him.

"It's all right," said Naruto, presumably to reassure the people working there. "He was just joking, right, Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"So... Sasuke?" asked Sakura. "Why...?"

"I decided that Orochimaru wasn't worth my time. And I killed Itachi."

"Yes! Another one! Woohoo!" yelled Naruto.

"What?" said Sasuke instinctively, although he chided himself afterwards for not knowing. And asking. Which was just as bad.

"We've been killing Akatsuki members. Not many of them are left, either," said Sakura.

"Hn," said Sasuke. "So how many are left?"

"Six."

"And it makes our job much easier. Unfortunately, they seem to be adept at catching Jinchuuriki-" Sakura nervously glanced at Naruto while she said this, but he showed no sign of offense, so she went on, "And we're not quite sure how many they have. At least one, maybe two or three."

"Hn."

"So, Sasuke, what are you planning to do?"

Sasuke glanced at Naruto. Should he tell him? Nah. "Just passing through."

He wanted to be reinstated as a Leaf nin.

But he didn't really want them to know just yet.

He wasn't sure why.

"Oh. Where are you planning to go after this?" said Sai.

"I'm going to Sunagakure." It was the first village that popped into his head.

"Oh. Any particular reason?"

"I usually visit shinobi villages."

"Hm." He could tell Sai didn't believe him.

As much fun as it had been to shock them by showing up unexpectedly, he shouldn't have done it. How was he going to get to Tsunade without them knowing?

* * *

Oh dear. In what universe does Sasuke not think things through? Why did he lie to them? What are his  
plans? And should I put Gaara in this? 

I'm still working on the plot for this one... Please review!


	3. Chapter 3: Super Strength

Sasuke ate his ramen, and ignored the girl behind the counter who seemed to be flirting with him. Naruto and Sai glared at him. Sakura was looking down.

Hmph. Still same as ever. He had hoped that she might be a little more grown up, he thought he wouldn't have minded a adult-acting Sakura, but... Wouldn't have happened. He'd come back partly to see if she was more mature.

"Say, Sasuke," said Sakura, looking at him suddenly with green eyes he thought looked a little more intelligent than he remembered. Actually, something was different about her. He wasn't quite sure what, but something in her manner of speech or attitude was different. She continued. "I work under Tsunade... Would you like to tell her about Itachi? And Orochimaru? Of course, we'd need to know if you weren't just a spy, I hope you know."

Good for them. "I wouldn't have expected anything less from ninja." In fact, if they hadn't said that, he would have been suspicious. Although he still would have to prove his loyalty.

"Finish your ramen, first," she said. He nodded.

"But how do we know you're not a spy?" asked Sai. "Well, don't kill me, but, you know, you said your next destination was Suna? Orochimaru would be angry at Suna for having allied with Konoha. And it is a bit suspicious... You're a missing-nin, you know, why are you visiting all the hidden villages?"

Sasuke hadn't remembered that detail. In his mind, he cursed.

"I'll explain it later," he said, hoping that would buy him time. Sai seemed temporarily mollified.

"Oh, did you ever see Sakura-chan's super strength?!" asked Naruto, seemingly oblivious to the suspicion around Sasuke, only glad to have him back. "She developed it while you were gone. It's amazing!"

"Hn," said Sasuke, who didn't particularly think a bit of strength was anything to make a fuss about.

"Well, we'll show you after lunch."

Sakura nodded.

Several minutes of Naruto's chattering later, Sasuke was finished. He jerked a pale thumb at Naruto.

"The dobe is paying," he said.

"Fine, Uchiha, just you wait-" Naruto muttered angry things while counting out the money and handing it to Ichiraku.

"Come on, Naruto!!!" yelled Sakura.

Naruto finally came, and Sai led the way to the training grounds.

Sakura jumped and skidded to a place some twenty feet in front of, placed one hand on her hip, and made a fist with the other. She looked confident from here, like she _owned _whatever technique she was about to use.

"Ready, boys?" she shouted. She jumped up, and then brought her fist down. Fast. At the instant in which her fist stopped going up and angled toward the ground, Sasuke wondered why she was doing that. Wouldn't she break a lot of the bones in her hand? And then, her fist hit the ground, and a crashing noise like thunder accompanied the rolling rocks and the destruction that followed.

It looked like a miniature earthquake had occurred, been isolated in this very area. Sakura neatly hopped up onto the highest rock and yelled, "So what'd ya think, Sasuke?" before grinning, dark green eyes glinting and just barely visible from where Sasuke stood, with both her hands on her hips. That was when Sasuke noticed her new outfit- red and pink like her old dress, but definitely shorter and with a bit more black.

This was not the girl who had shyly watched him and viciously argued over him for years. This was not the little girl who had grown out her long pink hair to impress him. This girl, although similarly short-haired, was not the girl who had cut off said hair to save him and Naruto. This girl, although brave, was not the girl who had mentally overpowered her rival, who had tried to take over her mind (and then ending the match in a draw, both knocked out).

No, this girl was something that was less the shy girl in the first two instances, and much, much more of the girl in the third and fourth instances.

She really had matured after all.

And for the very first time in his life, Sasuke was speechless (most of the time, he just didn't talk). He stood there, gaping at the chaos that surrounded the once fairly peaceful, if a bit beat up, training ground. Had Sakura really, truly caused all _this_?

"Sakura-chan! You made Sasuke speechless!" yelled Naruto. "I knew you could do it!!!"

"Hm, it would appear that even the great members of the Uchiha clan lose their ability to communicate sometimes. That's what happens if you don't do much with it," Sai informed him.

"Did I really make Sasuke speechless?"

"Yup!"

"That was incredible," said Sasuke, recovering his voice, and, much to his displeasure, finding his voice said more than he intended. "I'm... impressed."

"Well, then," said Sakura. "Shall we go see Tsunade now? I'll lead the-" She was interrupted by a young-looking woman with long blond pigtails and wide, caramel-colored eyes.

"And just what is going on here?!" she screamed at Sakura, who stepped back. "First, I find out my apprentice destroyed the training grounds, and then I find you all chatting happily with the missing nin Uchiha Sasuke?! What IS this?!?! "

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Whee! Another chapter up! I'm sorry if I don't update this too often, but it began as a bit of a side-project to Neji's Bad Day. Since I'm done with that, though, I'll try and get the chapters up faster. Please review... They make me a little more inclined to write. I like to try and reply to my reviews, but forgive me if I don't, okay? I like reviews... I also like watching the hit counts rise, too.   



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